Why Being Mindful Writers Matters

Changing the stories we tell about what being human is all about

Photo by Daniel Salcius on Unsplash

Happy New Year! May your year ahead be filled with peace, joy and love.

It can feel hard to believe that it can be when we look around and see that wars are raging, our societies are crumbling and everything seems to be falling apart. But these things have to break down as they are not the way we should be. We all have a part to play in creating the new world in way that is fairer for all and stops the pillaging of our planet’s resources, and people, for profit.

Being mindful writers matters as our words, and thoughts, have real power and we must use them to create the world we want to see. The stories we put out into the world, and the ones we tell ourselves about who we are and what we’re capable of, and the ones we tell about other people, influence the reality we experience. I wrote more about this here and here.

So if we want a world filled with peace, love and unity, then we have to use how we write, think, speak and be, to create one. The more of us that write like this, think like this, and be like this in the world, the bigger the positive effect that goes out into the universe.

I know this to be true as my life and my writing were transformed when mindfulness came into my life. Before I would be consumed with despair, anger and anxiety about all of the ways that the world was a terrible place filled with people doing terrible things. I couldn’t see beyond that and my stories, and heart, were heavy and filled with darkness. I read a lot of crime books and watched a lot of horror films and the world seemed shrouded in darkness. But once I learned to live and write mindfully, I saw that the world is also a wonderful place filled with loving and caring people doing great things to help and support each other. I realised that much of the darkness had come from me giving it my focus. Now, I truly believe that despite the fear agenda pushed on us by the mainstream media and our governments, that there is more love than hate in our world, much more. It’s up to us to write novels and stories, memoirs and personal essays that reflect that.

As we head into a new year, I have just completed the first full year of the Year of Mindful Writing course. I wrote this course from my heart and filled it with my passion, my insights from being a working writer and writing coach for almost two decades, and dedicating my life to living and writing more mindfully to bring more compassion to the world. I wanted to share with you some of the things the writers who did the course have said about it, as hearing this from them has made me truly understand the impact of what I have created. I cried with happiness when reading their words!

I also wanted to share this extract from the final month of the course with you.

What I have come to believe is that writing the truths in our hearts is what all our writing is really about. When we let go of all agendas and ambitions and goals and just write for the love of writing, because we are compelled to, then this is what fuels it. A desire to understand this human experience we’re having, both on an individual level and also as part of the collective human family. To process the things that happen to us and the ways in which people hurt and heal each other. To celebrate the amazing fact that we are here; that we can and do create artworks of great beauty and insight and profundity, while we are also driven by greed and lust and jealousy. That we are wonderful and weird, awful and mundane. Beautiful and ugly, brilliant and stupid. That we are all the same and all different and all in this together. Our writing is a way to for us to bring joy and pain and understanding to all of this so that our stories can bring us all closer together again, rather than driving us further apart.

Being mindful writers matters because of the ways they have said they and their writing have changed.

“I can honestly say this course changed my life. That might sound like a bold claim for a writing course, but A Year of Mindful Writing is so much more than that. Before joining, I wrote regularly, submitted to publications and prizes, and was fortunate to experience some success. But I realised I was stuck on a hamster wheel—writing and submitting, feeling validated when I succeeded and like a failure when I didn’t. My self-worth was entirely tied to external outcomes. Amanda gently helped me see that this approach wasn’t serving my mental health or my writing. Through her guidance, I learned to slow down and truly engage with my stories and characters. I began to explore who my characters were, what they wanted to say, and why their stories mattered. Amanda reignited my passion for writing, not for accolades or success, but for the joy of understanding the world and myself. Many courses focus on the technical aspects of writing, but this is a course of the heart. I’ve learned that while craft and technique are important, great writing requires something deeper — being fully present with your characters and letting them guide you. This course pushed me to go deep, sometimes into uncomfortable truths about my thoughts and behaviors. It’s been a year of letting go — of expectations, of the emotional rollercoaster of submissions, and of the need for constant validation. Instead, I’ve embraced honesty in my stories and in myself. I’m now a more secure and fulfilled person, writing stories with real heart — stories that feel meaningful and true.

— Fiona Dignan

"I joined this course because I thought it would help me be more focused and productive. It's done that, but not by way of five point plans and checklists. Instead, it gently encouraged me to let go of my fears and inhibitions and write freely, from the heart. As a result, I and my words are transformed, and my gratitude is immense."

— Anna Mahoney

“Before I started working with Amanda, my writing came in starts and stops—mostly stops as I rarely finished what I started. I’d been writing for corporate interests for so long that my work felt stale and uninspired, and I derived little joy from writing it or reading it. When I joined Amanda’s Storytelling with the Tao course, I learned fearlessness and to let go of outcomes. To write for the sake of writing. Before long, I was finishing stories—stories I loved to read! I’m currently taking her Year of Mindful Writing course; it has been a year of revelations and synchronicities during which I’ve created the best work of my life. (I’m taking the second unit next year.) By creating a safe space to explore both strength and vulnerability, Amanda taught me to tap my deepest emotions and most profound life experiences to create meaningful, impactful work. And the effects aren’t limited to my stories. Deeper writing has kindled a deeper engagement with the world around me, and a sense of profound happiness with myself and my work, so much so that the people in my life notice the difference. Amanda isn’t just a writing teacher; she is a mentor and a guide. I unequivocally recommend her courses and coaching if you seek to improve your writing, connect more deeply with yourself and the creative force, and find renewed joy in life and in your writing.”

— Loretta Finan

After receiving this feedback, it feels vital to me to make the course available to more people to help change the narrative of our world. So, I have opened up applications for another group course of up to six writers to start later this month (20th January).

There is only so much me to go around though! So, I have also created a work alone, start any-time version, which gives you all the tools, ideas and insights, and access to a private space in the community to share your thoughts with others, but doesn’t include the Zoom workshops and feedback on your work from me. But everyone that books the work alone version will go into a prize draw in the month they sign up to win a 1-hour 1-1 Zoom session with me to look at how they can mindfully develop their writing practice. Plus I will be in the community sharing more ideas and chatting with people, and will run regular workshops related to the course too (these will be buy a ticket and come along).

Making writing courses accessible is also important to me so it is just £120 for the year (this can be paid in full or in 3 instalments of £40 each, which will give you:

• lifetime access to the course space where the month’s coursework will go live every 30 days after you join;

• lifetime membership of the Mindful Writer Community and access to a dedicated course forum within there to chat with others taking the course;

• entry to the prize draw in the month you sign up to win a 1-1 session with me to mindfully develop your work (you can send an extract/story up to 2000 words for this), which can be taken at any mutually agreed point during the year of the course.

• half price tickets to my Mindful Writer workshops throughout the year of the course.

If you are a paid member of this Substack, you will get a 25% discount on the work alone version and I will be sending you the discount code shortly.

The course can be used to write fiction, memoir, or personal essays and is designed to help you connect more fully to yourself, your craft, and everyone and everything you are sharing this human experience with.

If this offering is arriving with you when it should, then I look forward to getting to know you and mindfully developing and growing together in the year ahead. To working together to change the stories we tell about what being human is all about.

With love,

P.S. Join me for the first Mindful Writing Marathon of 2025 on 19th January at 13.00 GMT. And the FREE Writing Hours are starting up again on 16th January and running weekly on Thursday afternoons at 14.00 GMT.